Giving up 30hp to lose 200lbs.

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3 years ago, I donated my battered motorcycle Tranquility to a local mechanics’ school and bought something with 50% more moving parts and +30 hp.  It came with a 200lb weight increase, but if one is “prompt” with the throttle, the power makes that disappear.  No, really, Apricity is 3 different motorcycles.  From 0-2mph it’s an Elefant.  Below 4k rpm it’s a pretty sedate ride.  Perky, believe it or not, but not stressful around town.  Above 4k rpm, however, it’s savage.  I mean oh-my-god what-happened-to-my-bike and -eyeballs levels of violence.  If it seems to lose that +200lb penalty once rolling, above 4k it loses another 600lbs because it just slices.  All I can say is “thank goodness for gyroscopic traction control.”

And now, after 3 years of work on it, fixing what the dealer with factory support couldn’t, I’m thinking of going back.  My 4 bike history has been a constant increase in power, weight, complexity, and modernity.  Now I’m going back, from a 5 yo to a 12 yo.  All because of my knees.

Well, that’s the narrative that’s brought us this far.  And will take me 3 hrs WSW of here to see if their claim “We take all trades” includes a Lemon Law bike.  Yes, I’m pretty dang certain the original problem’s fixed.  I even have a theory why the dealer+mfr wouldn’t fix it and ran out the clock on the warranty.  But proof?  The only way to know I’m right is to wait X years and see if the digital throttle accidentally disconnects mid-ride.  Or on start-up. (Did that only once, slightly less surprising that going from 70 to 35mph.) Passive detection without a solid root-cause sucks.  Also, my fix erased all traces of the most likely category of cause by simply replacing all the wiring to the throttle.  “Simply” is relative, my family, the factory, and perhaps you dear reader might think that’s an understatement.  And before I had the spare wires in my hand, I did too.  But careful study revealed that with patience and care, no special skills or tools were needed beyond a continuity tester.

And that leads me to pondering something else…what if that 30hp loss was only optional?  Turns out, it occurs simply because of software commanding it not to be there.  A sibling model of the one I’m interested in has the same power as Apricity and still without that 200lbs.  Already the little wheels are spinning, how can I command the software to release the kraken?  Or do I buy a junkyard brain with said features released and fully or partially swap it?  Will some of the luxo features I’ve come to love (cruise control is an opiate) leave with that swap?  Or are there more software hacks to engage them on the swapped brain?  And what about features unique to the unleashed model, can those co-exist with things like warm hands and buns, a windshield that tilts up and down, and a lesser form of traction control? Gyroless, it simply unthrottles rear wheel spin and front wheel rise.

All these things are meandering through this narrative manufacture.  So too the worry that I’m just bored with Apricity now that I’ve likely triumphed over the manufacturer’s cheapness.  My aching left knee says otherwise, and a recent ride with a trike-pilot pointed out to me that while 3 wheels are in my future, I still really like riding on 2.  There will come a point where my knee(s) will fail, probably when a bad stop causes me to do the sloooooooowwwwww drop, where youthful enthusiasm makes me think I can stop it and 22k days of knee-wear demonstrates that I can’t. As the Car Talk boys used to say, the cheapest car you’ll own is the one you have right now.  Goodness knows, I’ve stabilized the costs on this bike, why push my luck?

Well, for one reason, that’s the basis of motorcycling at high latitudes.

Addendum, 1 day later:

I was riding home from work, and without significant prompting, perhaps a pause in thinking about successfully trading to this new/older lighter motorcycle, I contemplated Apricity and her virtues and was totally at peace with not changing.  Apricity is so young, I could do nothing but change fluids, tires, and pads until the valve-seat wear gets bad enough to break something, then donate it to that same mechanics’ school.  Sell my gear on ebay and never look back.  Already I’m wimping out because of the “cold.” (Rides have been mid-40’s F.  I’ve regularly ridden in the past at temps below 10F.  Not this year.)  So maybe I get better on picking my stopping-spots so I don’t have to strain my knees.  Maybe a brace? (Will Aerostich mod my suit to accommodate it?)

The main thing was, peace was reached.  Homeostasis was perceived as acceptable.  And so now I may just not bother with the 3 hour ride tomorrow to challenge the dealer to a trade-duel.  Or -dual.

Addendum, 2 days later.

Got up, got suited, in giving the moto a pre-ride inspection I realized the front tire’s near end of life but especially the front brake pads were worn and looked asymmetrically worn.  As best I could tell, it looked like an outboard pad was worn more toward the up-rotation edge.  That got me out of the suit and into my padded jeans to disassemble the calipers, clean them, and really look at the pads.  They actually have decent life left, though the outboard pad is indeed worn more than the inboard, it’s at least parallel.  Swapped pad locations, reassembled and ready for local rides like tomorrow’s commute to work.  I’ve decided that while this trade would be nifty, I’m mainly doing it because this bike’s challenge—the throttle—has been solved.  I beat the manufacturer and fixed it where they couldn’t.  So I was looking for a new challenge.  The -200lbs would be nice, but at the expense of all the widgets and doo-dads I’d have to add.  And that’s just foolishness, as I have this bike more than far enough along to make it pretty dang spiffy.  I may return the new brake pads I just bought, though the 30% cost of urgent shipping would be doubly wasted.  I’ll just sit on them until these pads go through their wear indicators.  It’s a fine rocket ship of a ride, and a new one would be fun too.  Best of all worlds would be to buy it and have 2 to choose from.  (And hack the +30hp back into it.)  But I have a strict “one butt, one bike” rule.

Conclusion: not this time, thanks opportunity.